Flexuous

Gina and I go to yoga on Wednesday nights.  Jon plays hockey - I practice yoga.  He bashes people into walls going 20+ miles an hour - I center myself in quiet contemplation.  And we are soul mates, go figure.

During one particular pose we were all splayed out on the floor, legs and arms pointing in all directions, resembling something like a sad, rejected pretzel that didn't make it all the way through the machine.   Right after our instructor warned that we may experience leg cramps at this point she also said...

Some poses are not meant as much for the stretch as they are for you to practice your response to the discomfort.

Apparently true yoga starts the moment you want it to stop.

And oh boy - did I want it to stop.  Especially when later we were left squatting in an imaginary chair with our arms up over our heads and my legs burning and screaming to me that if I don't stop it RIGHT THIS MINUTE that they'll never walk for me again. Ever.

It's tough to argue with such a major part of your body.

Endurance is 99% mental, right?  At least every endurance experience I've had has been:  running a marathon, childbirth, sitting in chair pose for 15 breaths, high school.  If you can get yourself in the right frame of mind your body will follow suit.  

And you know - because I endured - those experiences make some of the best of my life.  Even high school.

Paul calls life a race and it is.  It's not a 10 second sprint either.  It's an ultra-marathon.  It's a yoga pose with your leg wrapped twice around your head while you balance on two fingers upside down.  True life requires serious endurance.  Serious faith and serious grounded-ness to keep pressing despite everything that happens.

So the response to discomfort isn't giving up.  It just can't be because I aim to finish with a 'well done'.  

So let's go, Utkatasana pose.  You're not winning this battle - regardless of how much my thighs complain...I'm going to 20 breaths next time.